The Path To Love
by lise
Summary: Lina finally realises what exactly it is that she feels for Gourry... *COMPLETED!*
1. Beating up jellyfish

Summary: A Lina/Gourry songfic, set just after the end of Slayers Next, based on the song "Picture Perfect" by Angela Via ****

Summary: A Lina/Gourry songfic, set just after the end of _Slayers Next_, based on the song "Picture Perfect" by Angela Via. :)

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Disclaimer: I don't own the Slayers or the song. Please don't sue! =P

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PART ONE

~~~~*~~~~

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Now baby we've been friends  
For such a long, long time  
We've been through laughs and we've been through cries  
But lately have you seen  
The way my tongue gets tied  
Can hardly speak when I look into your eyes

~*~

Heaving a satisfied sigh, Lina gobbled up the last bit of her formerly huge pile of food (while the innkeeper sobbed in the corner about how she was eating him out of house and home) and happily leaned back in her chair. "Now that Phibrizo's finally been dealt with, I guess life can get back to normal, huh?" She grinned across the table at her blonde companion.

"Yup!" Gourry smiled back at the petite sorceress. Then he blinked. "Uh, who's Phribi---Phibiz---er---who's that?"

"Aarrghhh!!" Lina glared at him, frustrated. "Don't you _ever_ remember anything, jellyfish brains?!?" Leaping clear across the table, she pounced on the hapless swordsman and began pummelling him furiously.

Just then, Zelgadis decided to wander by, cup of coffee in hand as usual.

The chimera raised an eyebrow at the situation in front of him. "So, Lina…finally decided to show Gourry your true feelings, eh?"

"Huh?" Lina stopped hitting a rather flattened Gourry for a moment to stare up at Zelgadis in confusion.

And abruptly realised that while whacking the life out of the blonde swordsman, she'd somehow ended up sitting in said swordsman's lap.

Letting out an ear-piercing shriek, Lina leapt up as if she'd just found out that she'd been sitting on a basket full of slugs. "N-no, Zel! It isn't what you think…!!"

Zelgadis simply looked back at the flustered girl, his mouth twitching slightly. 

A voice came from the squashed blob that was Gourry – "Oi, Lina, what's Zelgadis talking about?"

Trapped between a smirking Zelgadis and a clueless Gourry, Lina, red-faced, looked from one to the other, and took the only course of action she could think of.

"_FIREBALLLL!!!!_"


	2. Memories - The beginning

PART TWO ****

PART TWO

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I showed some friends of mine  
My favourite photograph  
You know the one of you and me from way back  
And when I told them all  
That you were not my guy  
They couldn't see it, couldn't understand why

~*~

"Oh, good. That fireball heated up my coffee nicely."

Gourry blearily raised his head off the ground to look up at a post-fireball Extra-Crispy Zelgadis™ (who was still tightly clutching his precious cup of coffee).

"Zelgadis?"

"Hmm?" The chimera nonchalantly flicked a couple of charred bits of stone off his shoulder. Taking a tentative sip of coffee, a look of pure bliss spread over his features. "Aaaahh…"

"Why'd Lina fireball us? Did we make her angry?" asked Gourry, watching the settling clouds of dust from Lina's sudden departure with great fascination.

"Don't worry about it, Gourry, Lina's not angry. She's just a tad sensitive about…certain…subjects." Zelgadis tried his best to fight back a grin.

The blonde swordsman picked himself up and dusted his clothes off, his brow creased in a worried frown. "Maybe I should go see if she's okay."

Despite himself, the chimera lost the battle and he grinned broadly.

As Gourry wandered out of the room, Zelgadis rubbed his stony cheeks vigorously. All this smirking was making his face tired.

~*~

Safely back in her room, Lina flopped face down on her bed and buried her face in her pillow, an embarrassed flush still colouring her cheeks. "Stupid Zel…Gourry and I are just friends! Good friends…that's all. And that's how I want it…right?"

She sighed, remembering the time she and Gourry had first met. When he'd "rescued" her from a bunch of bandits and then grumbled that for all the work he'd done, he'd ended up with a "short, wide-eyed, flat-chested little kid" to "babysit".

"Hmph," she grumbled, rolling over onto her side and looking down ruefully. "They're not _that_ small…"

And then, she recalled fondly, the blonde swordsman had insisted on carrying her all the way to the next town when she'd gotten injured in a fight. Even though she'd almost died of embarrassment then. Smiling at her, he'd said, "it was my grandmother's wish. She told me to be kind to women and children..."

And when she'd moved over to his room and slept on the floor after Rezo's minions had attacked in the middle of the night, Gourry'd offered her the bed, and, when she'd refused, he'd slept on the floor as well. 

__

"How can I let a girl sleep on the floor while I sleep in a bed?"

Despite herself, she _had_ been impressed by his chivalry. Even though she hadn't shown it.

They'd finally killed Shabranigdu with some – well, a lot of – help from her Giga Slave, she remembered proudly. And that was when she'd decided that she was going to continue travelling with Gourry. So that she could try to get the Sword of Light from him…

He hadn't really minded. He'd had that whole thing about being her protector, which he took very seriously, anyway. And they'd had fun, and so many more adventures together…


	3. Memories - Two of a kind

PART THREE ****

PART THREE

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Everyone thinks it's so romantic  
They say we're two of a kind  
And the more that I think about it  
The more that I realise what I've been missing

~*~

Lina rolled over on the bed to lie on her back, her eyes absently tracing the minute cracks in the white plaster ceiling, thoughts still on the blonde swordsman who'd played such a big part in her life the past couple of years.

Over all the time that they'd travelled together, they'd grown very close, up to the point where, in battles, Gourry was practically able to read her mind and know what she wanted done without her having to say a word. Like when, under Gaav's orders, Mazenda and Kanzel had fought them, trying to get Lina to swear allegiance to the Mazoku. While Amelia and Zelgadis had been busy with Kanzel, she and Gourry had double-teamed Mazenda, Gourry distracting her while Lina attacked her with the Sword of Light.

__

After Mazenda was defeated, Lina grinned happily at Gourry. "Even though we didn't set it up between each other, you still knew what I had in mind, right? "  


Gourry, smiling…"I could guess what it was. After all, you and I have been together for a while now."  


She laughed. "Connected, whether we like it or not, right?"

And after that, they'd had to deal with Kanzel as well. She'd managed to defeat him by fooling him into thinking that she was still unable to use magic and had died when she'd fallen off the ledge. But there'd been one small problem – her friends had also believed that she'd died then. And when they found out that she'd fooled them as well, they were none too happy.

Lina blushed again as she remembered how Gourry had been so upset and worried about her. "_Look...can you consider my feelings a little next time?_" he'd scolded her.

Amelia'd really gotten a kick out of that one. She'd dragged Zelgadis off, giggling all the way, leaving Lina and Gourry alone, Lina yelling and chasing after Amelia all the way.

~*~

Gourry scowled at the bunch of flowers he'd picked, painstakingly tying them together with a red ribbon and poking a few errant leaves into place. He wanted this gift to be perfect. He didn't know why Lina was upset, but he just wanted to make her happy.

__

"I just hope she doesn't fireball me when I give her this…"


	4. What's my heart trying to tell me?

PART FOUR ****

PART FOUR

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It's because of the way I'm feeling  
It's something I never dreamed  
And our love has a different meaning  
It took so long to reveal but now I know it

~*~

But the worst time she'd ever gone through, reflected Lina, was when Gourry'd been kidnapped by Phibrizo to lure her to Sairaag. She'd never realised how attached she'd gotten to her "protector" until he'd been taken away from her…

They'd almost not made it that time.

Of all people, it had been _Martina_ who'd made Lina finally see the truth, and ultimately, wrest them all back from the edge of their own destruction and destruction of their entire world.

Tears filled Lina's eyes, threatening to overflow as she recalled what Martina had said to her just before Phibrizo had killed the green-haired girl and encased her in crystal.

__

"You want to save him, don't you? Gourry... You love him, don't you...? Be honest with your own feelings... Even if the entire world is destroyed, it doesn't matter, does it..."

And in that one moment, Lina had made her choice. It'd been the hardest, most daunting decision she'd ever had to make – and yet, at the same time, it had felt strangely…natural, somehow. Natural to risk everything she had, everything she _was_, for the slim chance that _somehow_, she'd be able to get Gourry back.

Gourry.

Her companion, her protector, her friend. And…more?

She'd chosen _him_ over everything else. Over the entire world. She'd followed her heart, and sacrificed herself, her entire _being_, to save him.

Impatiently brushing away a tear that had had the audacity to escape, Lina sighed. _Just what exactly is my heart trying to tell me…?_

~*~

Gourry nervously pushed open the rickety wooden door. 

"…Lina?"

Experience – of a rather _painful_ variety – should have taught the blonde swordsman that you never, _never_ walk into Lina Inverse's room without announcing yourself, or at least knocking, first. Especially not when Lina Inverse was upset.

But then again, Gourry had never been a very fast learner.

Author's note:

Just wanna say a big thank you to platinum man & Rei_Firestar for their reviews…and yup, I'll try to finish this fic soon! =)


	5. Interruptions

PART FIVE ****

PART FIVE

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My heart keeps telling me  
Make up your mind about what you mean  
You've been holding back for too long  
You know it makes good sense  
Best of lovers are the best of friends  
I guess that we should have known all along

~*~

The door creaked protestingly as it was cautiously opened.

"Eh?" Rudely jerked out of her thoughts, Lina hurriedly sat up on her bed, brushing away a couple more tears and turning to glare fiercely at the intruder.

Her eyes widened as they met the warm blue ones of the guy who'd been in her thoughts the entire day.

"Gourry?"

~*~

Trying to hide her momentary discomfiture, the sorceress narrowed her eyes at the blonde swordsman.

"Didn't anyone ever tell you it's impolite to enter a girl's room without knocking first, jellyfish brains?!?"

She prepared to fry him to a crisp. "Fire--"

"Lina."

"—what?"

He stepped forward, daringly stretching out a finger to gently trace the damp trail on her face. "You're crying."

For a moment, she was too stunned to react.

He sat down next to her on the bed, looking at her, his blue eyes filled with concern. "Lina…tell me what's wrong. Did I do something to make you angry?"

She shook her head emphatically. "No…no, Gourry, it's nothing…"

He was still looking at her. "Um, anyway…"

She looked enquiringly up at him, waiting for him to finish his sentence, noticing that he looked a little embarrassed. "Well?"

"Er…I got these for you." He produced a beautiful bunch of flowers from behind his back with the proud air of a magician pulling a bunny from a hat, handing it to Lina and waiting anxiously for her reaction, holding his breath. He could just _feel_ the fireball coming.

Lina gaped. "Oh…they're beautiful…"

In a rare fit of emotion, she threw her arms around the swordsman and hugged him. "Gourry…thank you…"

His face lit up with an overjoyed smile.

Lina looked up at Gourry, smiling softly. "Gourry…I – "

~*~

"Miss Lina?" Amelia knocked on the door. "Shouldn't we be leaving soon? Mr. Zelgadis is getting impatient, and – "

She poked her head around the door, eyes growing as wide as saucers when she saw the scene before her – Lina, with a bunch of flowers in her hand and her arms around Gourry, both smiling happily at each other.

On seeing Amelia, the pair sprang apart, eyes wide.

"Oh…I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to interrupt you two…" Amelia ran off, presumably to report all the juicy details to Zelgadis, giggling happily. 

Lina sighed and slapped her forehead. Why did this always have to happen to her? And just as she'd been about to – 

"Lina," Gourry broke into her train of thought. "What were you saying…?"

The red-haired sorceress opened her mouth, but before she could say anything, she was interrupted by a familiar voice from the doorway.

"Hello, Lina!" Xelloss strolled into the room, his perpetual grin firmly in place. "How is everyone?"

She narrowed her eyes at him. "What do you want, Xelloss?"

The purple-haired Mazoku waved a hand airily. "Oh, I just popped by to say hi…"

"Yeah right…so what're you _really_ here for?"

She felt the words coming even before he said them.

"_Sore wa himitsu desu!_"

And with that, he cheerily exited the room.

Rolling her eyes, Lina grumbled under her breath. Of all the bad times to be interrupted…and _twice_ too…

"Lina," Zelgadis poked his head into the room. "Hurry up, will you?"

The chimera caught sight of the flowers and Gourry. "Oh…oops."

A pillow hit him squarely in the face.

__

Make that three times.

Author's note:

And a big thank you to Harmony as well for reviewing! =)


	6. Of Life and Love

PART SIX ****

PART SIX

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Everyone thinks it's so romantic  
They say we're two of a kind  
And the more that I think about it  
The more that I realise what I've been missing

~*~

After Zelgadis had made his appearance in her room, Lina had completely given up all hope of being able to have a *private* conversation with Gourry.

So now they were on the road again, and Lina, to relieve stress, was enthusiastically fireballing anything within her reach that so much as _twitched_.

Amelia blinked worriedly as her red-haired friend bounded on ahead of them, sneaking up behind a trio of unsuspecting bandits with a manic gleam in her eyes.

"Uh…you think she's okay?" she whispered to the silent chimera beside her.

"Oh, she will be." He smirked. "When she finally *does* figure out what she wants."

They turned around as one to stare knowingly at the oblivious blonde swordsman behind them.

Said blonde swordsman, sensing eyes on him, looked up and noticed their stares.

"What?"

Amelia giggled. "Oh, nothing!"

Zelgadis fretted that the smirk was becoming a permanent fixture on his face.

~*~

"_Fireball!_"

Lina smirked in satisfaction as she watched the unsuspecting bandits in front of her disappear in a huge, glowing, orange explosion.

Enthusiastically grabbing the treasure that the unfortunate bandits had dropped, the sorceress hugged the trinklets close to her chest and squealed happily. "Treasure!!! Ahhh…this is really a very effective method of relieving stress!"

And the cause of all that stress? One very blonde, very dumb swordsman named Gourry Gabriev.

Lina grumbled to herself. She'd finally come to terms with the fact that things had, indeed, changed since she'd first started travelling with Gourry. The importance of getting the Sword of Light from him had dwindled (but by no means completely disappeared!) as her friendship with the blonde swordsman grew; and now that friendship, on her part at least, had developed into something more.

Yes, Lina admitted, she *did* love Gourry.

Now, the problem was, she had *_no_* idea what to do about it.

Gourry was probably clueless about her feelings, as he was about most other things, she mused with slight amusement. But how was he to know if she'd kept right on beating him up anyway…and what if he didn't *return* those feelings?

Lina was so busy fretting that she didn't even notice the slight movement behind her.

~*~

__

//As if I didn't know they were talking about Lina and me,// thought Gourry, his lips twisting into a wry smile as he regarded the backs of the princess and chimera walking in front of him. _//I may be dense sometimes – okay, a *lot* of times – but I'm not *that* dumb…//_

And well, he had been thinking about Lina anyway. Which was why it hadn't been that hard to guess what the pair walking in front of him had been laughing about.

__

//Lina…//

He wondered what she'd been about to say to him in her room at the inn just before they'd been interrupted. She'd been smiling, which meant that it was probably something good. And, she'd had her arms around him too…

Gourry smiled.

He knew that he wasn't exactly the brightest person around, but there was one thing he was sure of – that his feelings for the red-haired sorceress had grown into something that went beyond simply protecting her. Even though she'd probably never feel the same way, Gourry was in love with Lina Inverse…

A scream coming from somewhere in front of them interrupted his thoughts.

Gourry's head jerked up, eyes wide and alarmed.

"LINA!!!!"

Author's note:

Wildfire's Angel & fireball4u, thanx for the reviews! :)


	7. Rescue

PART SEVEN ****

PART SEVEN

~~~~*~~~~*

  
_All of this time, guess I must have been blind  
Not to see, you and me, we're picture perfect_

~*~

Gourry raced ahead of the others, worriedly searching the forest for the source of the scream. It had been Lina, of course; he knew her voice almost as well as he knew his own. And if she was in trouble – mentally he berated himself for not taking better care of her – then he had to go save her. She'd be okay, he told himself. She *had* to be.

The blonde swordsman stopped short, hearing hushed voices coming from a small clearing ahead of him.

__

"So what should we do with the girl?"

"Ah, just leave her here. She's already caused enough trouble for us." A pause. Then –_ "Is she even alive…?"_

A third voice._ "Dunno…we beat her pretty bad. Let's just get the hell outta – "_

Gourry had heard enough. He ran forward into the clearing, sword held at the ready, Amelia and Zelgadis right behind him. Three bandits – the owners of the voices he'd heard earlier – spun around, startled. And on the ground, lying in a crumpled heap, deathly pale and with blood trickling down one temple, was – 

"LINA!!!!!"

Gourry advanced towards the stunned bandits, gripping his sword so tightly that his knuckles were white. "Kisama! What did you do to her?!?"

Then he was upon them, sword flying in a flurry of vicious strokes, eyes blazing with fury. All three of the blonde swordsman's unfortunate targets, momentarily paralysed with terror, saw that it was futile to even *try* to retaliate, and, gathering their wits about them, promptly turned tail and fled.

The clearing was suddenly filled with a deafening silence. Gourry dropped to his knees beside the unconscious sorceress, gathering her to him with trembling arms.

"Lina?" He shook her gently, almost frantic with worry. "Lina, c'mon, wake up…please…"

Zelgadis and Amelia stepped up behind him, eyes shadowed with worry.

Quietly kneeling down beside Gourry, Zelgadis deftly checked Lina's wrist for a pulse.

"Her pulse is faint, but steady." He nodded, and touched Gourry's shoulder gently. "C'mon, let's go get her healed and rested."

Nodding numbly, the blonde swordsman picked Lina up, cradling the petite frame tenderly in his arms, and dazedly turned to follow Zelgadis and Amelia to the nearest town.

Author's note:

Thanks for reviewing, monmon! :)


	8. Confessions

PART EIGHT ****

PART EIGHT

~~~~*~~~~*

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I'll be yours…be mine

We'll be picture perfect

Forever picture perfect

~*~

Eyelids fluttering open, Lina squinted up at the bright light, scrunching up her face. Her head was throbbing mercilessly. What had happened – oh yeah. The bandits. The red-haired sorceress cursed herself for her carelessness; usually no-one would be able to sneak up on her and take her by surprise like that. But then, she'd been distracted…Lina groaned softly, putting a hand to her aching head.

"Lina! You're awake!"

She looked up into a pair of bright blue eyes, shining with concern and relief.

Gourry.

Her protector had come through for her, again.

"How are you feeling? You've been asleep for two whole days…"

"I'm fine!" She smiled brightly up and him and swung her legs out of the bed.

The moment Lina stood up, however, a wave of dizziness overcame her and she clutched desperately at the headboard, trying to steady herself.

Strong arms grabbed her, holding her up.

"What are you doing?" Gourry reprimanded her. Laying her back down on the bed, the blonde swordsman looked at her with a mock-stern expression on his face. "You should be resting."

He sighed. "How come those guys managed to sneak up on you, anyway?"

Lina pouted at her companion. "It's all _your_ fault!" _//I was distracted 'cos I was thinking about you…//_

Gourry hung his head guiltily. "Yeah…I should've protected you better." He touched her hand gently, remorsefully. "Lina…I'm really sorry…"

Her eyes widened. "No, no, that's not what I meant!" Reaching out, she grabbed his hand. "Gourry…thank you."

He looked up in surprise. "For what?"

"For…everything." Lina smiled. "For more than you'll ever know," she added softly.

Gourry looked down at Lina protectively. He'd almost lost her…and just that thought was enough to make his blood run cold. He couldn't even begin to imagine life without the cheerful, fiery sorceress by his side.

"I love you, Lina," Gourry blurted suddenly, face flushing a deep red.

At his words, her heart jumped and did a little dance of joy in her chest. She squeezed the blonde swordsman's hand, linking her fingers with his.

"Gourry – I love you too." She finally managed to finish what she'd wanted to say to him at the inn two days ago.

Those words, although barely above a whisper, were the sweetest words he'd ever heard.

Leaning forward, Gourry took the petite sorceress in his arms, brushing his lips across hers in a gentle kiss.

There was an audible gasp from behind them.

Zelgadis and Amelia stood in the doorway, mouths hanging open in identical expressions of shock.

"We always seem to show up at the worst times…" Amelia murmured to the chimera.

Looking up, Lina and Gourry saw the surprised pair gaping at them. They smiled.

And this time, they didn't jump apart.

~owari~

Author's notes:

Thanks once again to monmon for the review! :)

Ahh…finally finished this fic. Hope you all liked it! :)


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